Nine winners for £60,000 house challenge

Nine consortia have been named as winners in the bid to design high quality homes for a construction cost of around £60,000.

They have been invited to go on to the final stage of the Design for Manufacture competition which is to bid to develop homes on one or more of the ten public-sector owned sites.

Announcing the finalists, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said: "When I first questioned the high costs of construction in the UK and suggested quality, affordable homes could be designed for around £60,000, cynics were queuing up to say it could not be done. There has been an overwhelming response and I congratulate the nine winners who have shown it can be achieved."

The competition is part of the government's affordable housing drive and is being run by English Partnerships. It is set to create around 1,000 homes across 10 public sector owned sites.

Trevor Beattie, Director of Corporate Strategy for English Partnerships said: "The quality of the entrants was very high and all of the bidders are to be congratulated. The bidders going on to stage three combine great design, strong cost efficiency and supply chains, a powerful assessment of environmental issues and a deep knowledge of what makes vibrant communities - all of the aspects vital to delivering places where people want to live."

An online exhibition of the designs was also launched to enable members of the public to view the winning and commended stage two designs. A link is on the right hand side of this page.